I enjoy singing Andrew Peterson’s “Beautiful Girl” to my two-year-old daughter Kara. (It’s on his album Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies.) So for Father’s Day, Jenni framed this picture for me (click to enlarge):
Three Recent Resources by Don Carson
I’ve published these three blog posts on The Gospel Coalition in the last three days:
- Carson on 1 Peter 2:9-10. A PDF of Carson’s chapter in a book that just came out this month.
- Carson’s Sermon on God at Next. An MP3 of a sermon Carson preached on May 30.
- Why Can’t We Just Read the Bible? A PDF of an interview with Michael Horton on hermeneutics and theological method.
Interview on Keswick Theology with Alex Chediak
I recently answered these questions from Alex Chediak about my book on Keswick theology:
- Keswick theology teaches that, after salvation, one must pursue the second blessing. Having received it, can one lose this “second blessing”? If so, what would be the mark(s) of such a loss?
- How would such a person get it back?
- Is Keswick thinking in any way at the root of the struggle many have with discerning “the personal will of God” for their lives?
- Some of us might read names like Andrew Murray, J. Hudson Taylor, and Amy Carmichael and think “Wow. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.” Does Keswick thinking, historically, have a track record of promoting more holy living on the part of Christians?
- In your handout, you say, “Since it is unlikely that all living believers will agree on their view of sanctification, believers should promote unity on this issue as much as possible.” Can you unpack this a bit?
- Romans 7 is a text that divides Christians, with some saying that Paul is referring to the believer’s ongoing struggle with sin, and others (like Doug Moo, and Martin Lloyd-Jones) arguing that Paul is referring to a pre-converted man (possibly himself). Is it possible to take the latter view and still not be a proponent of Keswick theology?
- Related to the previous question, when discussing the believer’s ongoing struggle, should we use the word “flesh” or “old man” to refer to what John Owen called our “remaining corruptions”? Is there a difference?
Related:
- Let God and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology
- Interview on Keswick Theology with Kevin DeYoung
Update on 8/23/2017: My latest book attempts to survey and analyze “let go and let God” theology:
The Importance of Argument
I’m listening to an audio-essay of J. Gresham Machen’s “The Important of Christian Scholarship” (HT: Phil Gons), and this sentence stood out to me: “But because argument is insufficient, it does not follow that it is unnecessary.” I’ve placed it in bold below so that you can read it in context.
The Importance of Argument
Certainly a Christianity that avoids argument is not the Christianity of the New Testament. The New Testament is full of argument in defense of the faith. The Epistles of Paul are full of argument—no one can doubt that. But even the words of Jesus are full of argument in defense of the truth of what Jesus was saying. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Is not that a well-known form of reasoning, which the logicians would put in its proper category? Many of the parables of Jesus are argumentative in character. Even our Lord, who spake in the plenitude of divine authority, did condescend to reason with men. Everywhere the New Testament meets objections fairly, and presents the gospel as a thoroughly reasonable thing. [Read more…] about The Importance of Argument
Lectures on Keswick Theology
I posted on this in March 2008, but I’m highlighting it again since these lectures on Keswick theology summarize my book Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology.
Detroit Baptist Theology Seminary is hosting the following resources from the lecture series I presented there in 2008:
- Handout. This five-page PDF ends with diagrams of major views on sanctification.
- Power Point presentation as a PDF. This collection of eighty slides is filled with pictures of the forerunners, proponents, and successors of Keswick theology.
- MP3s. About three hours of lectures:
Update on 8/23/2017: My latest book attempts to survey and analyze “let go and let God” theology:
For Email Subscribers
If you subscribe to this blog via email, please resubscribe using Google FeedBurner.
I had been using FeedBlitz, but that was including inappropriate advertisements (e.g., one for psychic readings this week!).
Here’s how to subscribe via email:
- Enter your email address here, and complete the subscription request.
- Check your inbox for an email from Feedburner, and click on the link.
Sorry for the inconvenience, and sorry for the FeedBlitz ads.
Fly by the Instruments
I flew for the first time yesterday. I’ve flown as a passenger in commercial airplanes countless times, but this was my first time to fly as a pilot in the captain’s seat.
Skip Goss, president of Skill Aviation, graciously offered to take me up. (He was in my group at Exploring Christianity earlier this year, and we have some mutual friends who are learning to fly at his prestigious flight school.)
We started off in Waukegan going south along Lake Michigan, circled Trinity’s campus a few times, and then continued south along Lake Michigan. We circled various parts of downtown Chicago and flew next to the Sears Tower. Viewing Chicago aerially from such a low elevation was amazing. We stopped for lunch at the Schaumburg airport, and we circled over Trinity’s campus again on our way back to Waukegan. This time I called Jenni at our campus apartment from a cell phone, and we waved at each other! My favorite part was flying about 150 mph just above the surface of Lake Michigan and seeing the massive lake-front homes.
Skip is a master-teacher, and since he invited questions about aircraft and flying, I pelted him with questions. Among other things, I confirmed that spatial disorientation is a relatively rare condition but one that every pilot must be prepared for. I keep thinking about a penetrating analogy that Jon Bloom shared on the Desiring God blog in December 2007: “What I Learned in a Spiritual Storm.”
- Bloom explains that when a pilot experiences spatial disorientation in a storm, he must fly by the instruments. He must trust the instruments.
- When we experience spatial disorientation in a spiritual storm, we too must fly by the instruments (i.e., God’s word). We must trust the instruments. The right response to evil and suffering is to affirm what God says in the Bible—even if we can’t exhaustively explain every facet of it—and trust him.
Website Redesigned
Many thanks to Phil Gons for redesigning AndyNaselli.com over the last two months. (Those who subscribe to this blog via RSS feed, email, or Twitter may want to visit the site to see the new design.)
In addition to the blog, every page is redesigned with updated content:
- About
- Contact
- Family (password-protected)
- Publications
- Resources
God has gifted Phil with superb analytical and technical skills. He’s a gifted exegete and theologian as well as a technological wizard. And I’m grateful that he’s patient, too, because I regularly ask him for advice about exegesis, theology, and technology! If you don’t already subscribe to his blog, I’d highly recommend you do so via RSS feed, email, or Twitter. It’s called “Thoughts on Theology and Technology” and organized as follows: